Playing games

Elder daughter (who is now 18, for those keeping score at home) is playing DC Universe Online on the PS3. (I gave it a try on the computer but it made me want to vomit. That's nothing against the game, more a function of my astigmatism.) It looks like a lot of fun, I may try it on the game system, see if there's less motion sickness that way. I'm not sure of my opinion on must-be-online games, seems a little risky to depend on the servers of others for your entertainment, but I suppose that's the internet in a nutshell.

Both girls (YD is now 14, btw) are also campaigning heavily for us to pre-order the Deadpool game. Pros are that, of course, it is Deadpool. Everybody loves Deadpool. Everybody in my house, in any case. Cons are that they are just getting into another game now so it might be best to wait until the novelty of DCUO has faded, and that it might also be best to wait to see whether the game turns out to be any good.

Cred

Reading again about "Girl Geek Cred." Apparently nowadays non-girl geeks hold girl geeks to a higher standard. Standard of what, I do not know.

But as a girl (well, at my age I'm not really a girl but in the interest of alliteration...) who has always been some variety of what is now called "geek," I am bemused at the notion that anyone who isn't genuinely interested in a "geeky" subject would find it useful to pretend to be.

Now I am antisocial by nature. (A friend of mine says a better term is "asocial" which is probably true.)  As I've mentioned before, I was an unashamed teenage comic book reader. I'd bring a stack of floppies to school and read them during study hall. (Good students could get away with that, back then.) On a school trip to the city, I insisted on visiting my first-ever comic book shop. (The other kids were probably not thrilled but they tolerated it well enough.)  If there had been comic book t-shirts back then I would have worn them.  All of this for the same reason I do anything--because the subject interested me. Why else would I spend time on it?

I still love me some comics, although I certainly don't spend the time or money on it I once did, and I still consider myself a comic geek. (Well, I do now that I've heard the term.) 

On the other hand, my interest in, say, video games, is much more sporadic. I like them, sometimes. I don't like all of them. I am a very casual player of video games. Not at all a video game geek.

I used to read a lot of science fiction. I don't any more. So, at one point I may have been a sci-fi geek but now I am not.

Does being a "comic geek" let me call myself a geek, unspecified?

My question is--do basketball fans get on hockey fans, say they're not "real" fans? I don't think so. I think sports folks recognize the notion of subcategories within an interest, and that not all sports fans have the same focus..

Still hanging in there

So it's October, so it must be time for my annual post to the Brainfreeze blog!

I still love comics, but I have really reduced my consumption. The only ones I read regularly (as in every month with no delay) are Captain America, Winter Soldier, and Red Hood and the Outlaws.  I also read Green Lantern: New Guardians but I tend to get a bunch and read them every few months instead of as they come out.

I figure someday I'll start picking up the DC books again, maybe after I feel like the universe has stabilized. I guess that makes me old and crotchety, or at least crotchety. Although if they bring back Secret Six I'm on board. (My money is probably safe. :()

The books I read sporadically now? (That means the various Avengers titles, mostly.)  Me and my need for instant gratification love the electronic comics. I also buy some of them in trade form, means I'm buying them twice but if I like them that much, I'm cool with supporting them like that.

I don't keep up with the comic news like I used to, though. But I have heard about the soon-to-be absence of Brubaker from the Marvel titles, which makes me sad. Still staying with the books, though

I want it now. Apparently.

I've learned something about myself over the last few days.

And that is that same-day digital is a very good way to (theoretically) separate me from my money.

I say "theoretically" because, well, not too many comics are same-day digital. I went online looking, thinking I'd give Captain America and Bucky a look (you know, and then buy the trade as planned whenever it comes out). Maybe the newer Avengers stuff too. But it's not there. So I didn't.

Here is something else I've learned about myself. I am not willing to wait a month for a 1/3 reduction in cost. I know this because I've paid full price for DC Digital despite knowing the price would drop from $2.99 to $1.99 in really-not-all-that-long-in-the-grand-scheme-of-things.

Hear that, marketing folks? And this is someone who is mainly a trade-waiter these days. Immediate gratification trumps all.

Where do I go to figure this stuff out?

Now I will freely admit that I've only read two of DC's "New 52" so far and they've both been Red Hood and the Outlaws. Because I am shameless and I like all three characters, and I'm curious. Otherwise, waiting for the trade. And, you know, sneaking a peek at spoilers and reviews here and there.

But I have a few questions anyway.

Did Kyle Rayner still used to go out with Donna Troy?

Did Starfire still spend all that time hanging out with Animal Man and his family?

How about the events of Countdown? In? Out?

How about Catwoman's baby?

Roy in RHatO is definitely different; I'm wondering whether there are plans down the road to bring back Lian in order to redo that whole "fatherhood turns Roy into a better man" thing.

One thing that makes me sad is the whole "Earth folks don't trust aliens" thing. Because that was actually one thing I enjoyed about the DC universe--that the people were kind of open to that sort of thing.

My first foray into e-comics

So now I've tried out DC's electronic comic books.

It was issue 1 of Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Don't judge me.

I'll probably get the next one, since I like all the characters well enough to give the title a while for the rough edges to smooth out.

But mainly I'm here to talk about the format.

Yes, it's hard to get used to. I'm using an oldish Acer Aspire running Windows 7, and I keep my screen resolution at 1366 X 768. If my screen were a little taller I might find it a bit easier to read without mad scrolling skills, but I can increase image size, and that is a big plus. These days I am having a harder time reading even a regular old on-paper comic book if the text is, say, red on black. I've taken to getting some of my trades as hardbacks because they tend to be a bit bigger and that can make a difference. Now, I don't know that my eyes are going to get worse to the point where even that won't help. But if they do, the electronic comics will be a real eyesaver.

Yes, I know that the aging comic fan with fading eyesight isn't the primary audience for electronic comics. But I'll tell you right now that it is something that will make it possible for us old folks to read comics for much, much longer.

Me and the Legion: An Exercise in Avoiding Fan Entitlement

Now that I've tried to balance my happiness at a Jason Todd ongoing with my sadness at the loss of Secret Six, I can turn my attention to my first connection with the DC universe--the Legion of Superheroes.

I first read it in the sixties when I was very, very young. Curt Swan on art. Brainiac 5, whose power was that he was smart. And Saturn Girl, who I still think of as one of the best comic-book role models ever for young women.

I read it in the seventies. In fact, I used to read it in study hall in high school in the later seventies. And I read it in the eighties. The Legion were adults now, for the most part, and by then I was as well. They married, even had children. Being removed from present-time continuity seemed to free them to age in a way that contemporary titles perhaps couldn't. (I suppose the "having children" thing would have led to trouble of that sort eventually.)

I read it into the early nineties. The "Five Years Later" storyline? Enjoyed that immensely. Really liked the relationship between Light Lass and Shrinking Violet. And I loved it when there were two Legion books going at once. Loved it. I got them both. I cared more about the one with the older, original Legion, but I read both.

Then the books stopped in '94, and of course I stopped reading them. (This was also Insane Nineties Time at Marvel, so in fact I gave up comics altogether for ten years or so.) I tried the reboot, with the new codenames and adjusted origins, and while it was a decent book, it just wasn't "my" Legion, the one I'd grown up with. I'm not being critical of it on that point, just saying that after a 25-or-so-year relationship with the original LSH, I just couldn't really get into the new book. I don't always connect to characters like that, but in this case I did, and reading the new stories with the similar-but-different characters just felt sort of pointless. (Yes, I know I'm saying I'm "that" sort of fan. I'm not always. But with the Legion, I guess I am.)

I did read a few issues of the newest version, the one with Supergirl, because my elder daughter wanted to get them. She didn't like it much, so we didn't continue with it.

Therefore I really quite liked the Lightning Saga when it came out, and the Legion of Three Worlds, and so forth. I had been kindasorta hoping for more of them, but it seems unlikely at this point. Of course if DC ever decides to give "my" Legion their own book, I am there--floppy, digital, and trade!

Buying comics in real life, or trying to

So every year or two, we leave our small town to visit relatives in The City. On these visits, we also try to do some shopping that we can't easily do at home. This includes bargain shopping for the kids (accompanied by hopes that they don't grow any before school starts in a few months). It also usually includes trips to two or more comic book shops.

Today was to be comic-book-shop day, so we took off and drove to one of our favorite stops.

Closed. I got out to look at the door, and it said--specifically--"Closed, not reopening." That's too bad, they were one of the few places I've seen in recent years that kept a large selection of back issues in longboxes. Kindly, it also included a recommendation for another comic shop to try ("the closest, and the best" said the sign). This shop was also on our list, so we went there next.

Closed. No sign.

If we'd been less fixated on comic books, we might have given up then.

However, we instead found a phone book, called the second shop, and were given the new address a few blocks away. Much bigger store, and I picked up a few things. I suspect it's one of those shops where some folks would feel ignored--a group of regulars was gathered around the register chatting, etc. Luckily, as a comic reader of 40+ years, I'm not shy about barging in on that sort of thing, and they were perfectly friendly once I had. (The fact that I take the position of "Age is Strength!" doesn't hurt either.) They didn't have what I was looking for in particular, though. (It was the trade of Red Hood: Lost Days, if you must know!)

So we made one more stop, where I found what I wanted and more besides. Nice shop, very customer-friendly.

Today's lesson, then, is that if you're a comic shop and you've moved, don't assume that because your regulars still know where you are, you're not losing any money. I'm sure I'm not the only one who--when visiting a city--makes a point of checking out the comic shops. And even if I'm only there once a year, I might be spending some bucks--in fact, because I'm only there once a year, I'm likely to be spending some bucks. Don't make it hard for me to find you!

Final (yeah right) reboot thoughts

I am a character-driven comic book fan. Not in the sense that I'm a fan of character-driven comics (though I suppose that could be true as well) but in the sense that it's the characters that drive my interest in a book.

This is probably why, historically (and when you're my age you do get to use the word "historically" when describing your life) I've always preferred group books. From Fantastic Four to Avengers to Legion of Super-Heroes to X-Men, the majority of the comics I picked up every month were group titles. Most of the longer runs in my collection are group books. There are a few reasons for that, but one in particular comes to mind right now

In a group book, if a favorite character is eliminated or changed radically, it's likely that there will be other characters who interest me still in the book. Hawkeye leaves the group? Well, damn...but still, Scarlet Witch! In a solo title, say back when Tony Stark was replaced as Iron Man by Rhodey, that could have been a deal-breaker--although that's a poor example in my own case because I really liked Rhodey in the armor--but still, point made, right?

On the other hand, back when Fantastic Four was my favorite book (the pre-teen years, this was), if they had killed off the Human Torch, I might have stopped buying it because at that time none of the other characters were all that interesting to me. (They were all "old." :P)

So, is a reboot of a character likely to turn me off enough to make me lose interest? Well...maybe. Let me think about that while I type.

Now, I do feel a little silly when I say that I understand why someone would be angry that a favorite storyline no longer "counted." Isn't a good story a good story regardless? What about Elseworlds or What Ifs or imaginary stories?

Well, sure, a good story is a good story. But if you're reading a What If? story, you file it away a little differently in your mind, or at least I do. You don't mentally add it to the stack of information on that character.

And reading serialized literature isn't like reading a stand-alone piece. On some level, anything that has to do with a particular character, unless you know it's explicitly out of "canon," is really only a chapter in the life of that character. In a narrative sense it becomes part of that character's life experience. It informs their opinions of and future interactions with the other characters in that storyline.

I suppose it's going to be a case-by-case thing, whether a particular aspect of a reboot irks me to the point where I throw up my hands and say "oh, s/he's not even the same person!" So, if suddenly Tim Drake never met Connor Kent? That's an enormous change in both characters, because their friendship was a significant one that affected not only what they'd done but how they had developed as characters. I'm not a big Tim fan, but if I were, that's something that would probably bother me, because a Tim who never knew Connor is not the same person.

Heck, I'm not even particularly a fan of either character, and that seems pretty clear to me.

So am I going to jump ship on titles or characters I like due to a reboot? Probably not. But maybe. We'll see.

How ever did I miss this?

So, cruising the comic internet today, I came across this phrase in a discussion of DC's September plans: "day and date digital releases to match the shipping dates of physical comics."

Okay, yeah, I still want my trades and/or hardcovers. I don't really like reading comics online. Put it down to old eyes.

But when it comes to finding out what's happening in my favorite titles when the books actually come out? I am weak. So, so weak.

Not buying the floppies is easy. But to be able to get a peak at the latest Secret Six on The Day? Instant gratification?

I don't know if I can withstand that temptation.

How many DC books will I be getting come September?

I read some DC books once in a while when I was a kid, but on the whole I was a Marvel girl. The sole DC title I followed was Legion of Superheroes and they weren't particularly affected by any crises, apart from the death of Supergirl, who wasn't a regular character there in any case.

I really didn't start to read DC books until I was an adult, and yes, it was the fault of the internet, why do you ask? :) So it was after the original Crisis reboot when I got my start. My vague childhood memories of Hal and Barry didn't interfere at all with my later appreciation for Kyle and Wally.

So, like my lifelong experience with Marvel, my shorter time with DC has given me a reasonably continuous...continuity. :) Marvel does tweak its history--a 21st-century Iron Man simply couldn't have gotten his start during the Viet Nam war--but he's still Tony Stark, and pretty much everything that's been printed in his comics is still a part of his canon history.

Now, I don't know how others feel about it, but to me the serial aspect of comic books is a great part of its appeal. A comic book or (more modernly) a story arc corresponds, in my mind, with a chapter of a book that I'm still reading. So if I start a new chapter and it tells me to ignore everything that's gone before? I won't be happy. But that's me.

But you know, keep all the Green Lanterns and I'll keep getting GLC. Keep Gail Simone on Secret Six and I'll keep buying it regardless of what happens there. I'll be tremendously disappointed if Superman becomes a bachelor or if Jason Todd is rekilled. (OTOH if Red Hood gets his own book I will probably break my no-floppies rule.)

So am I going to buy 52 DC books a month or the associated trades? Um....nope. Will anyone? I imagine someone will.

I need to get a new bookcase to hold all my trades...

Since I've made the switch to trades (and yes, in some cases--Captain America and Green Lantern Corps--this has meant a switch to hardcover because I'm patient but I'm not that damn patient), I've noticed some unexpected changes in my buying habits.

Back in the old days, if I discovered a new book or character, I might start getting back issues. The last time I did this was actually not all that long ago, when I discovered the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern in some trades of Morrison's JLA; there were no trades available of that era's GL so I actually went to an old-school comic shop, with tables and tables of longboxes, and got what they had. I...probably wouldn't do that now. I've gotten spoiled by being able to have my comics on a bookshelf with the titles on the spine.

But now, of course, I can generally find what I want in a trade. When I discovered (via a post in scans daily IIRC) the character of Pete Wisdom, there were eleven different trades I could get to learn more about him. Eleven. And unlike back issues of floppies, that's money that goes to the comic company. So I see why they're so available, certainly.

Waiting on three Blackest Night hc's next week...

Comics are good

It's been well over a year since I made the switch to trades. A few floppies have filtered in since then, but I think all the late books have made it here by now.

It's certainly changed my reading habits in that I read them in groups of six, which generally means that I read an entire story arc at once. This, I find I prefer. I suspect that has to do with the fact that stories now are often written with the 6-issue arc in mind.

Also during this time period, we bought a house. It's a great place, early 20th-century but comfortable (and safe, ever since we had the whole place rewired! :)) But, as you know if you've done this, buying a house means buying less of other things, especially including recreational items like comics. The trade thing means that presumably I'll be able to pick them up at some point in the future when I've more disposable income. But for now?

I've dropped most of my DC books apart from Secret Six. I will probably pick up Green Lantern Corps again once the massive crossover thing is done. And what with what's happened with Red Arrow/Arsenal I see little point to buying Titans (or JLA come to think of it).

And while I still love the Avengers, right now the sheer number of books still makes it a little cost-prohibitive. I'll get them someday.

Fantastic Four won't be back for me until the Human Torch is.

I do plan to continue buying Captain America, and the new Captain America and Bucky WWII-era book looks like fun.

I've always had a weakness for Marvel's WWII heroes, whether original-Timely or not, and by "always" I mean since the '70s when I was a kid reading the Invaders book. (Which I've been picking up the trades of as they come out.) I wouldn't mind seeing another ongoing Invaders title, and was in fact hoping for one when Invaders Now! was announced.

Invaders Now!, btw, will be here tomorrow. I hope. And maybe then I'll be able to guess as to the likelihood of another ongoing?

Deadpool dreams

Last night I had a dream involving Deadpool, Joan Rivers, and a cast of thousands. Somehow it even made sense after I woke up.

Well, Bea Arthur's gone, the man's got to have a new crush, right?

Still love the Invaders

I just got a few more trades, including The Torch. I am a total sucker for Golden Age superheroes, and I've always liked the Mad Thinker, so I quite enjoyed it. I'm delighted that the original Human Torch is back. Was quite impressed that Alex Ross made the boring-est Invader interesting, actually. And since I loved the original Invaders title back when I was a kid, I am also looking forward to reading Invaders Now! when it comes out in trade.

But that's not what I'm here to write about today. No, I'm here to make an anal-retentive continuity complaint.

So, The Torch starts out with Tom Raymond (Toro) sitting on a roof staring at his wife Ann, who has remarried since his death--and, according to a piece of Invaders Now! 1 I saw online, has two kids with the new husband, with whom she is cuddling on the couch--what, these people never heard of curtains? Fair enough, he's got a right to be bitter about the situation. But she doesn't look particularly old in the picture. Which she probably should be, right?

Okay, granted that Toro had a life after the war. He retired and married. You'd think sometime in the 50s or early 60s considering that his reanimated form is pretty youthful. But he could be older than he looks--he's a mutant, for one thing, and for another his body apparently contains some of the same cells as the original Torch, and that could have an anti-aging effect. So maybe he didn't marry until years later. It's still been a good long time since he died (a matter of decades according to Invaders Now!, which means at least 20 years have passed since they were together, and presumably more since he seems so uncomfortable in the modern world--doesn't like the music, hasn't seen the movies, is kind of freaked out by the tech.

So this is probably just one of those things where the sliding scale isn't working. Isn't it?

Another occasional update

I really do only occasionally update these days, don't I?

I'm taking a bit of a vacation this weekend, as half the family has gone out of town and it's just me and the 16-year-old, who is quite low-maintenance. So last night I started to catch up on some of my comic reading. That means I read three trades: New Avengers: Powerloss (including NA 55-60), Dark Avengers: Molecule Man (DA 9-12), and Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge.

I've actually really enjoyed the Dark Avengers title, and since I also always liked the Molecule Man as a character this one was fun, and not a bad treatment of him. Norman Osborn would be more interesting if he didn't have the hero musculature. Fun seeing some of Victoria Hand's background.

Enjoyed the bit in NA where Cap/Bucky comes home to see what a mess Wolverine has made of his place. :) But man, the Hood still makes me yawn.

But I have to say that Rogues Revenge was probably the best of the lot, particularly since not only did I enjoy it the most, but before reading it I couldn't really have cared less about almost all the characters in it. Now...well, I wouldn't buy a Rogues ongoing, but I'd get another mini. (Well, I'd buy the trade when it came out, but you get my point.)

I've got a few more books in my read-it stack, but I'm not sure when I'll get to them.

Darn it all!

I'm really bummed about Ryan Choi. He was such a fun character, I'm really going to miss him.

Action Figure Commentary: Stargirl and Cyclone

I'm looking at my new Stargirl and Cyclone action figures.

Um, that Cyclone is one terrifyingly tall drink of water (the top of Stargirl's head comes up to her chin), and from the slits in her dress I'm guessing her wind powers provide onlookers the Marilyn Monroe effect more often than not. Nice upswept hair, though. But where's her hat? Didn't she have an awesome hat? And doesn't she have freckles?

Stargirl I have no complaints about, design-wise.

Neither is particularly articulated, but they're pretty. Girl superheroes in sensible shoes are always welcome at our house. Just don't stand them next to each other or you get the freakish height difference.

No such thing as too many Green Lanterns

When it comes to collecting action figures, I usually figure that one figure per character is enough. Sure, I've got a few doubles. I've got two Huntress figures, but technically one is Helena Wayne and the other is Helena Bertinelli. I've got two Black Canaries, but since one is the old-school Alex Ross version, it could be Dinah's mom, right? And I've got two of Batman, and yes, they're both Bruce Wayne, but the DC Universe Classics one has this permanent Quasimodo crouch that makes him, well, just not that nice. But on the whole, yes, one is enough.

Which makes me think about why I'm sitting here with three Kyle Rayner Green Lanterns.

And the reason is: it's the costumes.

I've got the old one wearing his second costume, with the spiky hair and the dog collar. I've got the original costume, the version from the recent JLA Classified series. And now I've got the current costume, from the Blackest Night series.

Apart from the white gloves, I actually like the current costume the best. (And what's with the Green Lanterns and the white gloves anyway? Are they running their fingers across mantelpieces to check for dust?)

This surprised me because I was actually a bit fan of his first costume, and wasn't so impressed with the new one when I first saw it.

You know what the problem is? It's the JLA Classified body--or, as one could call it, "Kyle on steroids." Thick-necked, overmuscled, and definitely not Kyle's body. The Kyle of this era, remember, is artist Kyle, brand new superhero Kyle, Kyle who didn't think he even needed to work out because, you know, he had the ring! He was fit enough for a normal guy, sure, but he wasn't built like Hawkman.

And the original costume, designed for a slimmer build, just looks like hell on that body sculpt.

What were they thinking?

Well, I'm assuming they were thinking of the art. That certainly seems to be the case with the other two figures. The dog-collar Kyle looks like he just stepped out of an Eaglesham page. The Blackest Night Kyle, astonishingly, looks like Gleason's work--something I find surprising because, while I like Gleason, I didn't think he'd translate well into plastic.

So with that in mind, I'm wondering if I should ever look for the JLA Classified books, or would the art just drive me crazy?

So why is it?

So today I was shopping online for some trades, and decided I'd pick up Countdown. (Don't judge me! I liked it!)

I discover that it's available in four trades total.

Only three of which (1-3) are in print.

Doesn't this seem like an odd choice for a limited-run series?